


any language, any drink: i'm ready

by baecobz



Series: in every universe [11]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, Bad Flirting, Coffee, Coffee Shops, Crush at First Sight, Flirting, Love at First Sight, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-31
Updated: 2018-05-31
Packaged: 2019-05-16 08:34:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14807934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baecobz/pseuds/baecobz
Summary: mark visits ten at work and isn't prepared for the cute boy with the big smile behind the counter.





	any language, any drink: i'm ready

**Author's Note:**

> u know the drill: if u see mistakes please lmk bc 1) im lazy, 2) im tired and its late and i was gonna go to bed early but. Here I Am, and 3) i think im sick? oops so my heads all over the place!!  
> regardless thank u for going along w my nonsense yall r the realest MWAH

it starts like this: ten had convinced mark to visit him at the new coffee shop he worked at-- goading him on with promises of buying him a drink (mark knows ten’s going to back out later, but he pretends to believe it for now) and how everyone else who works there is a solid 10/10 both in looks and personality.

so maybe mark hasn’t ever had the best luck when it came to meeting new people, but ever since he and ten shared their first painful class together last semester, the older boy’s been determined to find someone for mark.

that’s probably why when ten wiggles his eyebrows and swears on his parents’ lives that mark won’t regret it, mark believes him.

and that’s the issue-- the barista standing behind the counter at this ungodly hour is cute. like, _take him home to meet your parents_ kind of cute, but also _bring him to a club and watch as everyone stares but he only dances with you_ kind of cute. maybe a whole lot of other kinds, too, but mark doesn’t have time to dwell on it.

all in all, the stranger is just ridiculously cute, and mark’s not sure how to handle it.

(and his voice. his _voice_. mark is pretty sure he could dig out his own lyric notebooks and write a dozen songs about them.)

“can i get a caramel latte? two extra shots of espresso, please.” mark drums his fingers against his thigh, wishing he wasn’t so awkward so he could flirt (or at least talk casually) with the barista. instead, he’s left glancing around and trying not to blush whenever he looks mark’s way.

the barista nods, grinning, and mark glances down to his nametag - lucas - and gives a tentative smile back.

the day he becomes a confident gay would be a glorious one indeed, but for now, lucas seems to have that covered enough for the two of them.

“one sweet drink for one sweet boy, coming right up.” lucas even _winks_ at mark, practically glowing as he punches in the order and takes mark’s credit card. “so, what do you do? something hard, if you need some extra caffeine early in the morning.”

“i’m a law student,” and then, because mark’s an idiot who never learned how to properly talk to cute boys, he asks, “what about you?”

to his credit, lucas doesn’t even look perturbed at the obvious question, instead puffing out his chest and grinning, “i’m an all-ages bartender.”

“all-ages?” mark repeats slowly, because surely he heard that wrong. what kind of bartender serves all ages? an illegal one, probably.

“yeah, i don’t make anything with alcohol.”

“so,” mark says finally, “you’re a barista.”

“uh _no_ , like i said, i’m a bartender who makes non alcoholic drinks.”

ten passes by with an armful of cups, laughing, “he’s a barista.”

lucas sticks his tongue out at him as he walks by but otherwise keeps his eyes on mark.

“a bartender.” he repeats. he looks so earnest that mark figures he might as well humor him.

“okay, a bartender.” mark smiles. “well, bartender, when do you think my drink’s gonna be ready?”

“oh, right.” lucas backs up from the counter, wiping his hands on his apron and shooting one last grin over his shoulder. mark’s not sure if he’s ever seen anyone smile so much before. “sorry, just a second. i got distracted by someone really cute.” lucas winks and ducks his head behind a coffee machine, letting the whir of the machinery fill the space their conversation used to hold.

mark uses the chance to sit down in one of the chairs by the counter, grateful that this cafe let you sit right by the front instead of having to sit at a table alone. it lets him watch lucas, too, which is a plus, so he sits in silence, content to see the edges of lucas’ arms and hands peek out from behind the machinery every so often.

when his drink is finally done a few minutes later, mark has been long done scrolling through the same few instagram posts, and is instead busy staring in awe of the coffee shop’s interior. maybe it was because he had been so distracted by lucas, but he hadn’t really picked up on the bright graphics or hanging plants before; all things considered, even with the bustling city rushing past outside, the cafe was calm and quaint, a welcome change from mark’s daily life.

“so,” lucas hums, stepping to the side so he can face mark directly. he’s opening a bag of ice even as he talks, like it’s normal for him to be so effortlessly charming and efficient at the same time. “how’s your morning going?”

“good.” mark says, though his brain supplies an unhelpful _better with you_. he’ll leave the sly remarks and flirty faces for lucas, thanks. “how are you?”

“great.” lucas laughs, and although he doesn’t add anything to it, mark knows he’s thinking about the same thing that mark had. “so, what’s your name? i can’t just call you _cute guy_ forever, you know.”

“i’m-- my name’s mark.” he tries to fight against the wave of bashfulness that rises when lucas grins back at him.

“hey, we both have english names! that must mean we’re soulmates, right?”

mark doesn’t even get a chance to respond, unable to add on a feeble _maybe so_ before ten is sweeping by and coming closer.

“xuxi’s not bothering you, right?” ten grins. he has an arm across lucas’ shoulders like it’s the most natural thing in the world, and mark is so caught up in just looking at the two of them that he doesn’t really process what he says.

“xuxi?” he says, because he’s never been good at following where the conversation’s supposed to go.

“that’s me.” lucas waves a meek hand, lips tugged up into what’s already a familiar smile. “also my name-- i'm used to yukhei, but lucas is easier to pronounce, so i go by that. but yeah, i’m xuxi.” mark decides on the spot that lucas-- yukhei? xuxi?-- rambling is likely the cutest thing he’ll ever hear.

“do you prefer xuxi?” mark asks quietly. ten slinks off with barely-muffled laughter, tossing a half-formed excuse of restocking supplies.

“whatever’s fine,” lucas winks _again_ and mark loses a few years off of his life, “i just like it when you talk to me.” mark blinks, brain temporarily shutting down with the way lucas looks at him like he really means everything he says. because he’s met quite a few people like lucas before, people quick with their words and smiles but less so with their genuinity-- but lucas is bright and loving and completely real in everything he does, and it’s overwhelming. “it’d be nice if you called me yukhei, though. i don’t hear it very often now that i’m in the states.”

“okay. it’s, uh, nice to meet you, yukhei.” mark manages quietly, words barely audible when it comes down to the coffee shop’s chatter and mark’s own raging heartbeat.

“you too, mark,” yukhei shoots back, smile as bright as ever as he slides mark’s cup to him across the counter.

“minhyung.” mark adds. normally, it’s a name that he doesn’t really care for, one that he’s perfectly fine to leave in his childhood home and nowhere else, but yukhei’s chinese name has him filled with a sense of longing for the country he left behind. he still feels more like a _mark_ than a _minhyung_ , but it’s been so long since he’s heard someone else say it that he misses it, just a little. “you can call me minhyung. it’s my korean name.”

“oh, you’re korean?” yukhei’s eyes shine with something like genuine interest, and mark is once again awestruck by how open and earnest he is. “that’s so neat, i have a friend who’s been trying to teach me korean. it sucks though, because we don’t see each other much, but--” yukhei tosses mark a straw and a few napkins, smile still wide and bright, “i think i know enough to make conversation with someone cute.” he winks, then seamlessly translates into korean just to say, “your smile is beautiful.”

mark really, definitely blushes at that-- korean’s always been personal for him, ever since he moved from canada to korea to america; it was the singularity in his home that came covered with family memories and private moments, and hearing it from yukhei feels just as significant, somehow. he whacks his brain, searching for the small bits and pieces of chinese that ten’s friend (kun, probably) had taught him.

“you’re pretty.” mark says (or thinks he says, but yukhei’s bashful grin probably means he’s right). yukhei, if anything, looks far too pleased at this new development of multilingual flirting, and scrambles for the pen in his front pocket.

“i’m gonna give you my number. is that okay?” yukhei looks up between strokes as he scribbles a series of digits onto a spare coffee-stained napkin. mark nods, dumbstruck, and has to remind himself to speak in english when he responds.

“i’ll text you.”

“good. i’ll be waiting by my phone. i mean, not for awhile, because i’m still on shift, but later. at, like, five or something. actually-- i have to drive home, so five thirty. maybe six, if i grab dinner, but.”

“just text me back whenever.” mark grins, because the sight of yukhei fumbling over his words is quite possibly the highlight of his life. “if i don’t respond, it’s because i’m probably studying, but i’ll get back to you whenever i can.”

“would it be weird to ask you on a date?” yukhei props his elbows up on the counter, head tilted and smile still gorgeous as ever. mark’s heart melts just a little. “i, like, really like you already, and i want to get to know you more.”

“‘s not weird,” mark mumbles, “i mean, if it is, i don’t know, but. that’d be nice.”

yukhei’s laughter gets cut off when ten snickers, throwing himself onto the counter to smile at the two of them with narrowed eyes and raised eyebrows.

“you guys are _cute_ ,” ten hums, “but our busiest hour is gonna start in a second, so mark, you may wanna leave soon.”

mark nods, hanging his head in hopes that his blush isn’t as visible; ten’s still cackling even as mark gives yukhei a quick wave on his way out, so mark figures he didn’t really succeed.

(still, when he sends yukhei a quick text back at his apartment, complete with a stressful pink heart emoji, he figures he’d go through a decade of ten’s teasing if it meant he ended up here with yukhei’s number in his phone and his smile in mark’s mind.)

**Author's Note:**

> fun facts abt this au:  
> -ten was a law student but dropped out when he got scouted as a choreographer (he works at the cafe for a lil extra $)  
> -yukhei calls himself a bartender bc he thinks it makes him sound cooler  
> -kun teaches everyone bits of chinese but theyre mostly bad pickup lines bc thats the only thing ten remembers  
> -yukhei did a semester abroad in china and visited korea a few times, so he made friends there  
> -one of those friends is jungwoo!! who was just there for a yr before moving to the states, and hes the one teaching xuxi some korean
> 
> come chat on [curiouscat](http://curiouscat.me/6woojin) or [twitter](http://twitter.com/woo6in)!!! it makes my day when i get msgs uwu  
> also!! w that said, huge huge thank u to those of u leaving kudos/bookmarks/comments!! whether it be for this fic, others, or if uve even been keeping up w this whole series, thank u!!!!


End file.
